| 1. |
- Alm, Jens
(author)
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Swedish municipalities and competitive sport’s stadium requirements : competing or mutual interests?
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 8:3, s. 455-472
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper examines the extent of an institutional change within the organisational field of municipalities and competitive sport in Sweden. First, there is both a continuation of and a challenge to the institutional relationship between municipalities and competitive sport as a result of new institutional logics. Second, although there are competing institutional logics, the municipalities have an ambivalent approach towards the stadium requirements from competitive sport. On the one hand, the municipalities wish to continue their mutual exchange with competitive sport, and finance and support it, while avoiding competing institutional logics within the organisational field. On the other hand, if they are not able to have an increased influence over the development of the stadium requirements, the municipalities express that they define the stadium requirements as private issue and a task for competitive sport itself. The conclusion is that the financing of stadium requirements and the definition of them as a public issue is under negotiation and the new institutional logics have resulted in a battle over policy formulation and a less predictable policy area.
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| 2. |
- Barker-Ruchti, Natalie, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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Producing success : A critical analysis of athlete development governance in six countries
- 2018
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 10:2, s. 215-234
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper aims to analyse and compare athlete development governance in Australia, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland. We adopt a Foucauldian framework to theorise athlete development governance as shaped by and based on distinct ‘government mentalities’ and ‘modes of governance’. Qualitative procedures were used to collect and analyse 58 documents related to the 6 countries’ athlete development governance and to conduct 14 informal interviews with national elite sport system experts. Our results confirm other scholars’ findings that sport governance is moving towards managerialist government mentalities. Specific modes of governance that are being implemented to systematise athlete development include targeted forms of funding and the modelling of athlete development. However, the results also highlight how athlete development governance is a site of negotiation, arising from (a) historical events, (b) sociopolitical contexts, (c) financial conditions, (d) government mentalities and (e) sport science knowledge. Our examination demonstrates how these factors not only problematise athlete development governance but also allow for distinctive local athlete development government discursivities and/or sport-specific adjustments such as less result-driven and more holistic interpretations of athlete development. We conclude by outlining implications intended to support stakeholders’ (e.g. coaches’, sport directors’) engagement in conceptualising, implementing and/or revising athlete development frameworks.
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| 3. |
- Blomqvist Mickelsson, Tony
(author)
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The role of the Swedish Sports Confederation in delivering sport in socioeconomically deprived areas
- 2022
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 14:4, s. 589-606
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study explores the role of the Swedish Sports Confederation (SSC) in its pursuit of supporting sports in socioeconomically deprived areas, specifically targeting ethnic minorities. This is no easy task, seeing as the SSC does so through ‘steering’ voluntary sport clubs towards social policy goals. Utilising multiple qualitative sources from 35 SSC representatives, this study examines the practices of the SSC according to Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time approach. The results show that the SSC foreground their practices by initiating inter-sectoral collaborations to ensure sustainable funding to clubs and that the ‘principle of closeness’ permeates the practices; every link in the process is locally embedded and builds upon the strength of the clubs. The sport club consultant, acting as the direct link between exo-level directives and the clubs’ micro-setting becomes a key factor whose individual characteristics become a decisive factor. In conclusion, the SSC works in a complex collaborative sphere in which specific individuals become central in reaching the clubs. Importantly, the SSC adopts a bottom-up approach, recognising the strength and resourcefulness of the locals. The results have implications for federations that work under the governance of neoliberal result-oriented regimes – if sport clubs should carry out this work, the federations need to understand how they must accommodate and assist these sport clubs adequately.
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| 4. |
- Blomqvist Mickelsson, Tony
(author)
-
Understanding Central- and Eastern European migrants’ inclusion into sport : a Delphi study
- 2023
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 15:1, s. 109-124
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The world is, again, witnessing a humanitarian ‘crisis’, as over seven million Ukrainian refugees have fled the border at the time of writing. Culturally sensitive practices are keys in leveraging sport for migrants. Yet, this research has not explored what cultural sensitivity is, regarding Central- and Eastern European (CEE) migrants. This paper assessed culturally contingent components when considering CEE migrants inclusion into European sport. The Delphi method was deployed, and three rounds of data collection were conducted. 19 CEE experts in sport (researchers, NGOs, governmental employees) were recruited to jointly produce a set of consensual directives. The results were analysed with Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time model. The key agreements consisted of four significant themes. Facilitators included shared experiences of (organised) sport, and CEE migrants’ familiarity with other cultures. Barriers included the nature of labour migration on time- and economy to engage in leisure, and stereotypical and misleading perceptions of ‘post-soviet residents’. In conclusion, the results show that a range of similarities may exist between CEE and European (sport) contexts that could be conducive to CEE migrants’ inclusion into European sport, but that practitioners will need to be aware of sensitive Soviet history.
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| 5. |
- Book, Karin, et al.
(author)
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A diagnosis of environmental awareness in sport and sport policy
- 2011
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 3:3, s. 401-416
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article sheds light on the problematic, but urgent, relation between sport and its environmental effects by focusing on the development of internal policies in the Swedish sport movement as well as on external normative pressures for a sustainable environmental development. The materials in this study portray a passive (and blind) governance in relation to an official environmental policy at macro and meso levels, regardless of the manifestations of individual environmental projects in everyday sport practices. The analysis shows that the ideology of the autonomy of sport and the emphasis on self- regulation, regularly upheld by the Swedish Sports Confederation, is obsolete.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Dawbin, Timothy M., et al.
(author)
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National sport organisation responses to independent reviews
- 2021
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 13:1, s. 29-43
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Government sport agencies maintain an enduring interest in National Sport Organisations (NSOs) and deploy a number of tools to make them more effective and efficient. Independent, consultant-led reviews are increasingly used to assess aspects of capability, sustainability, governance, management, and programme delivery. However, it is unknown how NSOs respond to these instruments and the latter’s capacity to induce substantive change. This research investigates how and why NSOs respond to independent reviews of their organisations, whether purposefully, passively or politically. Drawing from documents and interviews with NSO officials, findings demonstrate that NSOs respond both purposefully and passively to recommendations advising centralised control over their networks. While there is evidence that responses to reviews invite further state involvement, the mix of responses, along with the finding that ‘reviews beget reviews’, suggests NSOs maintain considerable agency to ‘muddle through’ recommendations. This study speaks to why reviews may be repeated and why they may face increasing scepticism.
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| 9. |
- Efverström, Anna, et al.
(author)
-
Anti-doping and legitimacy : an international survey of elite athletes’ perceptions
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; , s. 491-514
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Anti-doping work is a comprehensive enterprise that entails control and governance of elite athletes’ everyday lives. However, in policy-making regarding doping and anti-doping in elite sports, the athletes’ perspective has not been considered adequately. Focusing on elite athletes’ perceptions of anti-doping as both principle and praxis, the study aimed to analyse how these perceptions can be understood from a legitimacy perspective. A survey study involving 261 elite athletes from 51 different countries and four international sports federations was conducted. The results showed that the athletes did not question the legitimacy of the rules, but had concerns about the legitimacy of the way the rules and principles are enforced in practice, specifically with regard to matters of privacy, lack of efficiency and equal conditions as well as athletes’ involvement in the anti-doping work. The article describes how athletes’ perceptions of the legitimacy of anti-doping work constitute the basis for their willingness to follow regulations as well as a precondition for the work’s functionality and stability. In light of this finding, the article calls for the empowerment of athletes in anti-doping work.
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| 10. |
- Fahlén, Josef, et al.
(author)
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Resisting self-regulation : an analysis of sport policy programme making and implementation in Sweden
- 2015
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - London : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 7:3, s. 391-406
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Political programming of sport has become the new orthodoxy in many countries where the strive for a more healthy and civically engaged population is intertwined with an ambition to encourage and make responsible individuals and organizations for meeting societal goals. Although much effort has been put into studying this phenomenon, there is still a shortage of understanding of how, why and with what results sport policy programmes are made and implemented. To address this shortage this article reports on a study of the largest government intervention in sport in Sweden with the purpose of exploring processes of responsibilization and self-regulation at play in the relationship between the government and sport as well as between sport organizations on different levels. Results show how sport has received a more salient position on the government agenda, where more instrumental goals have been accompanied by increased resources to aid in their attainment. This process has assisted in the ambitions to modernize sports organizations by encouraging development through self-regulation. The sports organizations involved have embraced the new goals and resources. However, instead of self-regulating in the desired direction, each organizational level in the sports system has forwarded the responsibility for development to the next level below. This process has left the sports clubs with the full responsibility of meeting the government goals, a responsibility they have not accepted. Understandings of these phenomena and processes are discussed by pointing to the specific institutional landscape and tradition of Swedish sport.
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| 11. |
- Fahlén, Josef, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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Sport policy in Sweden
- 2016
-
In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 8:3, s. 515-531
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Contemporary sport policy in Sweden is the result of a century-long relationship between national and local governments and voluntary, non-profit and membership-based club sport which has resulted in extensive financial support to organised sport. The relationship is defined by an 'implicit contract' in which the government decides on the extent and the purpose of the funding, and the recipient, the Swedish Sports Confederation, determines the details of the distribution and administration. These funds are distributed to 20,164 sport clubs and their 3,147,000 members in exchange for the realisation of social policies on public health and the fostering of democratic citizens. While an important cornerstone of the relationship has been the autonomy and self-determination of the recipient of the funds in their capacities as civil society organisations, recent decades have witnessed an increase in demands on performance outputs. These demands have explicated a wider social responsibility for organised sport and entailed a system for follow-up and control of the results of the government support via key performance indicators. In these ways, the corporatist agreement and consensus traditionally characterising the public–civil society interaction has been accompanied by governing mechanisms associated with neo-liberal ideologies which in turn are putting the sustainability of the implicit contract to the test.
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| 12. |
- Fahlén, Josef, et al.
(author)
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State sport policy for indigenous sport : inclusive ambitions and exclusive coalitions
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; :1, s. 173-187
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- With the policy aim ‘Sport for all’ as a backdrop, this paper investigates sport policies for Sami sport in Sweden and Norway (the Sami is the indigenous people residing in the northern parts of Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden). By applying an Advocacy Coalition Framework, the purpose of the paper is to explore how the organisation of and possibilities to exercise Sami sport are affected by political coalitions, social structures and institutions. Drawing on data from policy documents and interviews with government and Sami Parliament representatives, results show how institutionalised relationships affect the general ambitions to provide sport for all and the more specific ambitions to reach underrepresented groups. In both countries, dominant coalitions are made up by the institutionalised cooperation between the states’ Ministry of Culture and the umbrella sport organisations. Alternative and emerging coalitions are made up by the Sami sport organisations, the Sami Parliaments and the Sami policy units f the states. While the dominant coalition is stronger in Sweden, the alternative coalition is stronger in Norway. These differences are interpreted as being results of policy elements outside the policy subsystem of sport – the two countries’ different relationships to legal adoptions of indigenous rights. These findings suggest that approaching sport organisations outside dominant coalitions can be conducive in reaching sport for all ambitions.
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| 13. |
- Fahlén, Josef
(author)
-
The trust–mistrust dynamic in the public governance of sport : exploring the legitimacy of performance measurement systems through end-users’ perceptions
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 9:4, s. 707-722
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- With increased government involvement in sport has followed a perceived need to audit the performance of sport organisations. This has created a wide range of performance measurement systems aiming at producing information to assist in managerial decisions and policymaking. Although thought of as improving organisational performance, it has also been argued that performance regimes, especially in the government/third-sector nexus, are threatening the self-determination of autonomous organisations. Thus, the purpose of this article is to add to the existing understanding of how audits and measurements affect the organisations they are supposed to monitor, not only in terms of minor and negligible side effects, but more importantly in terms of pervasive alterations of the autonomous club sport practice. To do so, data from 43 interviews with representatives from 20 sport clubs were analysed. Findings show how the performance measurement system under study leads to an alteration of sport clubs’ activities to maximise performance measures; a centralisation of work associated with measurement within the club; and an undermining of trust between the voluntary and public sectors, which challenges the legitimacy of this relationship. Thus, this study shows that performance measurement systems are dependent on the legitimacy bestowed by the agents affected by it.
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| 14. |
- Geeraert, Arnout, et al.
(author)
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Good governance in international sport organizations : an analysis of the 35 Olympic sport governing bodies
- 2014
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 6:3, s. 281-306
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, structural issues with regard to the quality of the self-governance of the 35 Olympic sport governing bodies (SGBs) are analysed. First, this article presents empirical evidence on the lack of accountability arrangements in SGBs. In particular, the watchdog function of their member organizations is severely undermined by the general absence of objective criteria and transparency in the distribution of funding to members. With regard to checks and balances, arguably the most topical issue is the complete lack of independent ethics committees. Second, our survey demonstrates that most SGBs have institutionalized athlete participation. However, in the overwhelming majority of the organizations, they have not been granted a share of formal decisionmaking power. Third, with regard to executive body members, there is the rather anachronistic dominance of the European continent and also the preponderance of male officials. In addition, the general lack of term limits poses serious threats with regard to the concentration of power, which is evidenced for instance by the overall number of years SGB presidents are in office. The empirical evidence clearly supports the recent calls for improved governance in sport, according to which SGBs need to agree upon, and act in accordance with, a set of well-defined criteria of good governance.Only then will the self-governance of sport be credible and the privileged autonomy of these organizations justifiable.
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| 15. |
- Kempe-Bergman, Matthis, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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The sceptic, the cynic, the women’s rights advocate and the constructionist : male leaders and coaches on gender equity in sport
- 2020
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 12:3, s. 333-347
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research about sport and gender equity has taken various forms in different historical and scientific contexts but a general conclusion is that sport still is male-dominated terrain. Why is this, despite decades of gender equity work and initiatives? Here, answers were sought through interviews with 47 male power holders - leaders and coaches - in Swedish sport. Men from seven sports were interviewed. The aim was to, by means of a Foucauldian discourse analysis, explore how 'gender equity' was interpreted and valued: how do the leaders and coaches position themselves, and how are they positioned, in relation to gender equity? The findings show that four subject positions are articulated: the sceptic, the cynic, the women's rights advocate and the constructionist. The sceptic raises doubts about the reasonableness and fairness of gender equity, the cynic constructs gender equity as something unrealistic or impossible, the women's rights advocate articulates a semi-essential and quantitatively oriented support for gender equity, and the constructionist voice a norm-critical approach. We conclude that the constructionist probably is more aligned with the gender equity objectives of both Swedish and international sport organising bodies than the women's rights advocate, but that more distinct and detailed norm-critical approaches to gender equity are required ahead. A more successful implementation of gender equity initiatives is related to changed interpretations of and attitudes towards the fundamentals of gender equity work among those who are to realise it, but also to clarifications of what 'gender equity' means and why it is important.
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| 16. |
- Norberg, Johan R
(author)
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A contract reconsidered? Changes in the Swedish state’s relation to the sports movement
- 2011
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 3:3, s. 311-325
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article concerns the relation between the state and the sports movement in Sweden. First, a theoretical model is presented for understanding and analysing the relation of the state to voluntarily organized sport. This model takes its starting point in administrative studies and modern political philosophy. Thereafter follows a general description of state support to sports in Sweden in the twentieth century. In this section the concept of an ‘implicit contract’ is used to show how the incompatible interests of the state and the sports movement have been solved in practice within the framework of Swedish welfare politics. The article ends with a discussion on whether current changes in government sport policy may lead to a reconsideration of the implicit contract between the state and the sports movement.
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| 17. |
- Persson, H. Thomas R.
(author)
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Good governance and the Danish Football Association : between international and domestic sport governance
- 2011
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 3:3, s. 373-384
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Danish Football Association (FA) is about to become the first Danish sport govern- ing body to adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR). This article identifies a number of governance events in Danish sport and football over the last 4 years in order to provide a picture of the current governance climate. Professionalization, value- and norm-based leadership, transparency, ability and democracy, together with law and order as well as a concept of social responsibility, are all central to the overhaul of Danish sport govern- ance. It is argued that they are all part of building trust and that governance practices are therefore to be viewed through a lens integrating ‘good governance’, CSR and social capital in the context of multi-level governance. ‘Good governance’ is consequently seen as embedded in the context of its economic actions and social relations in and with society at large.
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| 18. |
- Stenling, Cecilia, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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Can sport clubs be represented? : Pre-packed policy advocacy and the trade-offs for democratic responsiveness
- 2020
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 12:4, s. 583-598
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Federative sport organisations are increasingly conducting advocacy vis-à-vis public authorities on behalf of their membership, but the meaning and implications of such interest representation are unclear. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore how representatives of sport federations understand interests in the context of sport advocacy, and the transformative effects on future representational and wider democratic practices that may follow from such conceptualisations. Drawing theoretically on a distinction between attached and objective interests, and empirically on interviews with 46 Swedish Regional Sport Federation representatives, we show that interests are understood as best derived from central policy documents and edicts rather than clubs’ immediate wishes. This centralised sourcing of advocacy issues may be explained with reference to the legitimacy representatives believe that the internal democratic system bestows on processes of issue prioritisation. In the absence of bottom-up practices outside of general assemblies to channel federated clubs’ interests, this issue prioritisation strategy involves a shift from accommodating interests attached to clubs to promoting understandings of sport’s collective and ‘objective’ interest. The significance of this shift is twofold. First, it enables the justification of a professionalised, bureaucratic and centralised advocacy dedicated to increasing advocacy impact rather than ‘downward’ representational authorisation and accountability. Second, it may shape what is perceived as legitimate subsequent representation, including the appropriate participatory practices associated with advocacy. More generally, if clubs and their members come to understand their interests as objective, their capacity and will to formulate their interests as attached may be further weakened.
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| 19. |
- Stenling, Cecilia, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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From 'passive custodian' to 'active advocate' : tracing the emergence and sport-internal transformative effects of sport policy advocacy
- 2019
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 11:3, s. 447-463
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Organised sport has become a legitimate interest group, with potential influence in wider policy-making circles. Building on a distinction between because-of motives and in-order-to motives, the purpose of this study is to analyse why sport organisations conduct advocacy while offering an assessment of the sport-internal transformative effects of advocacy activities. The analysis is based on interviews with 46 elected and staff representatives of Swedish Regional Sport Federations, and it shows (1) that a perceived de-institutionalization of organised sport’s monopolistic position in Sweden underpins the imperative to conduct advocacy, and (2) that the overarching goal-oriented purpose of advocacy is to further sport organisations’ role as advocates in future policy processes. This indicates that sport organisations are transitioning from a ‘passive custodian’ to an ‘active advocate’ role in relation to the government. We propose that this latter role may include a professionalisation of advocacy activities, and that advocacy, therefore, may accentuate internal tensions related to the trade-off between efficiency and democracy, create a need for sport-internal advocacy, and undermine future advocacy claims and/or access to policy processes.
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| 20. |
- Stenling, Cecilia, 1981-
(author)
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Sport programme implementation as translation and organizational identity construction : the implementation of Drive-in sport in Swedish sports as an illustration
- 2014
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - London : Taylor & Francis. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 6:1, s. 55-69
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article outlines a theoretical framework to be used in the analysis of sport programme implementation. The need for such a framework resides in the increase in government interest in sport during the last decades, expressed in various top-down programmes positioning voluntary sports clubs as intended implementers, and in recent calls for a theoretical grounding of implementation analysis. The framework consists of two main parts. One is the translation perspective, proposed as an approach to understand sport programmes as open to (re)construction. The other is the organizational identity concept, proposed as a tool to understand how and why implementing organizations interpret and act upon, i.e., translate sport programmes. It is argued that the use of the framework, in tandem with the proposed methodological approach ‘follow the actor’, will provide new insights into the sport programme implementation analysis. An analysis of a national initiative on organized spontaneous sports, part of the Swedish government's programme ‘The Lift for Sport’, is used to illustrate the proposed framework.
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| 21. |
- Stenling, Cecilia, et al.
(author)
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Tensions and contradictions in sport's quest for legitimacy as a political actor : the politics of Swedish public sport policy hearings
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 9:4, s. 691-705
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to and analyse strategic representations and legitimacy production in sport policy advocacy processes. Considering it as a case of public consultation in part made possible by contemporary governing systems, the empirical base of the study is the public hearings with representatives of six parliamentary parties that were arranged by the Swedish Sports Confederation (SSC) prior to the 2014 election to the Swedish parliament. Using verbatim transcripts of these hearings as data and the notion of policy advocacy as institutionally situated production of legitimising accounts, two research questions are addressed: (1) What legitimising accounts are produced and deployed by the SSC during the hearings? (2) To what wider systems of meaning are those legitimising accounts connected and how? The analysis shows three sets of legitimising accounts and how both long-standing and contemporary ideas of the sport–government relationship in Sweden were used as cultural resources in these framing processes. Two aspects of policy advocacy processes arising from the study are discussed. First, the possible reasons for and consequences of the contradictory nature of legitimising accounts advanced, and second the transformations of the institutional conditions of sport that are implied by the emergence of phenomena, such as the hearings under analysis.
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| 22. |
- Strittmatter, Anna-Maria, 1988-
(author)
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Defining a problem to fit the solution : A neo-institutional explanation for legitimising the bid for the 2016 Lillehammer winter Youth Olympic Games
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 8:3, s. 421-437
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article discusses the successful bid for the 2016 Lillehammer winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and its incorporation within the broader youth sport strategy within organised sport in Norway. Although it is widely accepted that the argument that major sports events are a solution to problems of low levels of involvement in sport is not generally supported by evidence Norwegian sport organisations used this argument as a primary justification for hosting the YOG. The aim of the research is to investigate: a) why NIF used this argument even though there was so little evidence to support its validity; and b) how and why this seemingly contradictory argument was successfully ‘sold’ to the public. The research was guided by the methodological approach of discourse analysis and the theoretical framework of the neo-institutionalist concept of legitimacy. Based on this analysis I show how the institutionalised rhetoric of the Norwegian youth sport policy (YSP) adopted by the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) became the main argument for the YOG bid. Further findings show that rather than responding to the youth sport participation problem, NIF used the development of youth sport as a convenient rationale to bid for the YOG in order to secure legitimacy from two of its main stakeholders – the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Norwegian government. Rather than hosting the YOG as solution to a youth sport participation problem, NIF used the institutionalised rhetoric of the YSP, defining a problem to fit the solution.
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| 23. |
- Strittmatter, Anna-Maria, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Sport policy analysis revisited : the sport policy process as an interlinked chain of legitimating acts
- 2018
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 10:4, s. 621-635
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- By providing an analytical framework that draws on a conceptualisation of legitimacy in organisation studies, this paper demonstrates that the sport policy process can be understood as an interlinked chain of legitimating acts. Based on recent suggestions in organisation theory literature on how to approach legitimacy and legitimation, we applied the framework on a small sample of published sport policy studies to demonstrate its utility. By applying the framework, six interweaved and interweaving elements of the legitimating act within sport policy processes were identified: legitimacy-seeking organisation, subject, source(s), strategy, bases and scenario. The analysis shows that each of the six elements works by intersecting within each phase of the policy process. The main conclusion is that consequences – often unintended – resulting from legitimating acts in one phase have legitimacy-related implications for the other phases of the policy process. As pressing as pinpointing the use of all elements of the framework is, it is equally important to distinguish each of the elements in order to fulfil the analytical potential of the proposed framework. Since sport policy processes in practice rely primarily on organisations and organisational action, future sport policy research would benefit from this type of framework connecting organisations and organising to policy processes.
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| 24. |
- Strittmatter, Anna-Maria, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Youth representatives as agents of institutional change : the circumscribing effects of role prescriptions in sport governance
- 2024
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Routledge. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Conceptualising the youth representative as an institutional role, we explore the institutional shaping of youth representatives as change agents in the governance of sport organisations. Focusing on how these shaping conditions who the youth representative can be and what determines the scope of their role fulfilment, including the impact of their work on established institutional orders, allows us to examine the shaping of agency related to governance institutions. Data is drawn from a questionnaire centred on the experiences of young people in sport governance (n = 32) and semi-structured interviews with 10 representatives of organisations affiliated with the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederations of Sports. The role of the youth representatives is scripted in terms of who the representatives ought to be and what they ought to do. The scripting associated with the operationalisation of this ambition into role pre- and proscriptions stands in stark contrast to the ideal of youth representatives as agents of institutional change. Our study of the scripting of institutional roles has theoretical implications because it shows how normative typifications that link notions of actors with actorhood circumscribe institutional work pertaining to change.
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| 25. |
- Wickman, Kim
(author)
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The governance of sport, gender and (dis)ability
- 2011
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - London : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 3:3, s. 385-399
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Drawing on the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and with a discourse analytic approach, the purpose of this study was to describe and analyse how wheelchair basketball (WCB) players governed themselves in relation to the dominant discourses of sport, gender and disability. This study was based on semi-structured interviews with 12 men and 6 women with and without classified impairment. The findings illustrated how governing operates in the micro-context of WCB and how the athletes were constituted at the intersection between technologies of power and technologies of the self. On the one hand, they were categorized according to a classification system by which the athletes were organized into competitive classes based upon sport-specific tests. On the other, they were taking up and rehearsing narratives about themselves in terms of normality. Finally, the results have shown how male and female WCB athletes take up and resist predominant sport, gender and disability discourses and how they govern themselves in relation to such discourses. The results of the study also illustrate how the workings of power were differentiated within the WCB context and how the sport and gender discourses provided instructions on how to become the desired ideal.
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| 26. |
- Österlind, Malin, 1983-
(author)
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Sport policy evaluation and governing participation in sport : governmental problematics of democracy and health
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1940-6940 .- 1940-6959. ; 8:3, s. 347-362
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sport and participation in sport has become an important welfare policy issue and is regarded as a solution to many of the ‘problems’ that face contemporary societies. Together with the ambition of using sport as a policy tool there has also been an intensification in the use of evaluation measures to judge whether sport delivers services in line with policy objectives. This study draws on the concept of governmentality to examine one such sport policy evaluation, a Swedish state-appointed Commission of Inquiry on sport. The purpose is to elucidate the Commission’s problematisation of the socio-political role and function of sport and participation in contemporary Sweden. The analysis showed that the Commission adopted two main ‘problematics’. The democratic problematic concerned a commitment to issues of democracy and equality of opportunities and specified a particular problem of sport; sport excludes rather than includes. The second, the health problematic concerned a commitment to issues of public health and physical activity and focused upon a particular problem of the population; people are physically inactive and unhealthy. The argument being proposed in this article is that these two problematics construct the ‘problem’ of sport and the sport (non)participant in specific ways, draw on particular forms of knowledges and discourses, with certain implications for the judgements made and the solutions proposed by the Commission.
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